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PRIVATE RALPH BENNER was
born in Salem NJ on November 14, 1891 to Clinton C. and Carrie Benner.
He was one of at least seven children. Clinton Benner conducted a
grocery store in Salem, where the family lived, at 266 Broadway, in
1900. By 1906 the Benners had moved to Camden. City Directories show
that the family lived at 557 York
Street in North Camden
through 1912. Clinton Benner
was then in wholesale produce, and Ralph, the oldest son, was working as
a clerk in a drugstore. By 1914 the family had moved once again, to 828 North Sixth
Street in North Camden.
When Ralph Benner
registered for the draft in June of 1917, he was working as a leather
glazier at Burk Brothers, 3rd and Wildey Streets in Philadelphia PA. Prior to being
called up in September, 1917, he had been a member of the Ottawa tribe
of the
the Improved
Order of Red Men, a patriotic fraternal organization. After initially being sent to Camp Dix, he sailed
for France in February of 1918.
Private Ralph Benner died of
cerebral
softening at Base Hospital No. 214, Seveney, France, fifteen miles from
St. Nazaire, on April 26, 1919. As a member of the medical detachment of
the 314th Infantry Regiment, Private Benner had seen action five battles
during the war.
Private Ralph Benner was survived by his father, Clinton C.
Benner, also of 828 North Sixth
Street, Camden NJ. Also surviving and
residing at the North 6th Street address were brothers Norman and Hubert
C. Benner, and sisters Verna and Emma H. Benner.
Ralph Benner was a member of the patriotic fraternal organization,
the Improved
Order of Red Men, belonging to Ottawa Tribe No. 15, which met in Morgan's
Hall on Market
Street in the years leading up to America's entry into World War I.
Ottawa Tribe No. 15 members included J.
Richard Geist, Fillmore Haines, Burton Bagg,
John Harkins, Joseph
Covert, and William Schucker. |
